Subway Statement: How Starling Marte, Mets sent Yankees a message in series sweep

NEW YORK — The Mets were not about to let the Yankees steal their spotlight.

After Gleyber Torres briefly stole the thunder of Max Scherzer's dynamic performance with a two-run home run off David Peterson in the top of the eighth inning, the Mets saved the best cheers for the final inning.

Eduardo Escobar led off the ninth inning with a double to left field off Wandy Peralta and Tomas Nido moved him over to third with a picture-perfect sacrifice bunt. Peralta left the door open as the ball bounced out of his glove on a chopper toward the mound from Brandon Nimmo.

Starling Marte sent the Mets to a Subway Series sweep with a 3-2 win over the Yankees on a walkoff single into right field off Wandy Peralta in front of 43,693 fans on Wednesday night at Citi Field.

"Every game’s a big game, especially with the situation we’re in currently," Marte said. "We’re playing a tremendous team like that who’s also in first place, but we also continue to battle. Luckily, things came out right and we were able to win the game."

Marte and Escobar each started off the night with three strikeouts apiece in their first three at-bats. Marte, who had a solo home run in Tuesday's win, added two hits in the seventh and ninth. Escobar, who knocked the go-ahead first-inning home run one night earlier, set the stage for the sweep with one of the biggest hits of the night.

"That’s the mentality and the mental toughness you have to have with this game at this level," Buck Showalter said. "They’re not going to feel sorry for you. There’s another salvo coming your way, so you’ve got to jump on in."

The win helped the Mets grab their third sweep of the season. It was their first two-game sweep over the Yankees since May 12-13, 2014. And Marte hoisted the Mets back into a three-game lead in the National League East following a Braves loss.

The Mets and Yankees will square off again across two games on Aug. 22 and 23 at Yankee Stadium.

"This is for bragging rights in New York," Scherzer said. "They’re a great team, they’ve got a great lineup and it’s fun to compete in an atmosphere like this. You’ve got fans from both sides. Fortunately enough, we played well enough to win both games."

Pitch to contact

Scherzer was brought over in the offseason to deliver in big games, and he continued to prove his worth on his 38th birthday on Wednesday .

He delivered seven scoreless innings, stranding eight Yankees baserunners and striking out six to help the Mets sustain a two-run lead that they built after three innings.

When the pressure intensified, Scherzer manufactured a way to get himself out of the jam.

Scherzer won each duel against Judge, striking him out in three of his four at-bats. One of the biggest came in the top of the third with two runners on base as the Mets ace got Judge to fish at a low slider for the final out.

"Just executing pitches, understanding if you make a mistake, he can really hit it," Scherzer said. "I knew if I was going to throw a slider, I needed to really step on the slider. Fortunately enough, I was able to execute them where I needed to and I was able to get some big outs when I needed to as well."

The Mets' defense also did their part to lift up their starter. Marte made a sliding catch to rob Kyle Higashioka of a hit in the third and Escobar leapt to rob Gleyber Torres of a hit in the next inning.

In the top of the fifth inning, Josh Donaldson knocked a leadoff double and Higashioka drew a two-out walk, but Francisco Lindor snared a sharp line drive off the bat of DJ LeMahieu to squelch the Yankees rally.

"Working with (Tomas) Nido, sequencing and not giving in on those situations," Scherzer said. "They hit a couple of balls hard at people. Fortunately enough, we had guys right there. Other times, I made big pitches when I needed to."

Tough transition

But in a flash, all of Scherzer's hard work was undone.

After the Mets ace worked seven scoreless innings, the Mets' two-run advantage evaporated in a blink.

Peterson, who was making his second relief appearance after making seven straight starts, walked Anthony Rizzo on four pitches and Gleyber Torres tagged a first-pitch sinker over the right-field fence for a game-tying two-run home run.

He was able to bounce back with a strikeout of Matt Carpenter to avoid any further damage.

"I like the way that Pete came back against Carpenter," Showalter said. "He didn’t move the sand around. It’s a good learning experience for him."

It was Peterson's second time pitching in four days and he struggled each time coming out of the bullpen. In his previous relief appearance against the Padres on Sunday, he gave up an earned run on two hits and a walk in an inning of work.

Seth Lugo earned the win with a critical final 1⅔ innings, including three strikeouts and inducing a groundball from Judge after a two-out single by LeMahieu.

Stars align

In the early going, Pete Alonso and Lindor did the heavy lifting for the Mets offense.

In the second inning, Alonso tagged a hanging curveball from Domingo German over the left-field fence for a solo home run. It was Alonso's 26th home run of the season as he extended his RBI total to 84 — most in Major League Baseball.

Alonso has now recorded a hit in nine of his last 10 games with seven RBI.

Meanwhile, Lindor made sure that a leadoff double from Tomas Nido in the bottom of the third would not be wasted. He lofted an RBI single over the shift into right field to plate the Mets' second run of the game.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Starling Marte, NY Mets sweep Yankees with walk-off win at Citi Field